Magnetized
by laufeeyson
Summary: So Loki came back? Bit of a chaos caused from that, I'll give you that one, but it eventually came clear that he really hadn't come for vengeance-but something entirely different. No, he came back for the heart of Tony Stark. [Plot based off a roleplay between me and my friend Gabrielle (violentcheese.), so part of the credit goes to her.]
1. Opposites Attract

Loki ran a steady finger over the edge of the thin page, catching the corner under one of his long nails and flipping it over. He studied the words of the book, intent on discovering more of the plot. He'd become so lost in the text that he'd forgotten where he sat, and just how long he'd been there for. He held the book open, placed lightly in his lap, the paper-back cover now as cool as his skin. Around him, the hum of machinery was irritable, but he was able to ignore its echo off the concrete, grey walls. The chair he sat in was that which belonged in an office, black, not the most comfortable but with arm-rests sufficient that holding the book wasn't tiring to his limbs.

The Midgardian literature was intense enough that Loki was startled by the voice he heard, and was close to throwing the book half way across the room at the noise—but he was able to control himself when he recognised the voice didn't mean immediate danger.

"Yo, Big Freeze, haven't seen my new electro-magnets, have you?" The familiar hum of Tony Stark's voice called from the other side of the room.

Loki didn't bother to look up from his book, "Why would I have seen them, Stark? I don't even know what they look like . . ." He replied with a frown, "Knowing you though, they're likely to be in a very obvious place—your drawer for example."

Tony shook his head, sat on the top of his work desk, "Nope, already looked there," he replied.

The silence that followed was awkward, since Loki was too engulfed in his book to really care about Tony's current issue; he just continued to read until Tony spoke again.

"Hey, you think birdbrain swiped 'em to tinker with his arrows?" Tony asked suddenly, a frown crossing his amused expression.

"Perhaps, people do tend to get rather villainous around you," Loki responded, finally looking up from his book to glare at Tony, "why, what do you want me to do about it?"

A grin lit up on Tony's face at Loki's comment about people's actions around him, "I don't know," he gave a shrug, "you could use your mojo to sniff 'em out? You know, abracadabra sort of thing?"

Loki frowned, closing the book and leaving it in his lap. "You mean you want me to use my magic, instead of getting up and using those legs of yours to search for it? You're incredibly lazy, Stark, I wouldn't be surprised if you started to grow weak from the lack of exercise," Loki gave a sigh, then held up a hand to silence Tony from retorting, "be silent, and I'll do it for you—but this is the first, and last time, I'm not your mother."

"Um, yeah? These hands have better things to do than search," Tony finally got in, but was silent soon after Loki closed his eyes. At that point, he started pulling faces at Loki.

The silence was prolonged for about twenty seconds, of which spent with a vague aura of magic around Loki, a faint, green glow radiating from the tips of his fingers, complimented by a red flush of his cheeks. He eventually opened his eyes and gave a rather frustrated sigh, standing, his legs carried him over to the desk Tony was sat on, and he pulled open the drawer and lifted out the linen bag of electro-magnets that Tony had been looking for.

"Not in your drawer, you say? I may have to protest," Loki stated.

"No! No protests allowed!" Tony leaned over to snatch the magnets from Loki's hand, "Though, in my defence, your honour, I did look . . ." a wide grin spread across his face, "maybe."

"You didn't even open your damn eyes, Stark," Loki answered with a small frown, heading back over to his chair to reopen his book—settling down into its cool comfort.

"Me thinks the lady doth protest too much!" Tony replied with a smirk, "Wait . . . I already said no protests. I don't care, I'm Tony Stark," Tony gave a wink and stood up. "I better go find Dummy to help me switch reactors."

Loki gave a sigh at Tony, finding where he'd left himself in his book, "I'm not a woman . . ." he replied quietly, "And yes, you better, I'd do you no assistance."

Tony looked to Loki for a few seconds, before putting the magnets in his pocket and skipping over to Loki. He snatched the book right from his hands, looking to the cover. "Dummy can wait. Watcha got there?" he questioned.

Loki gave a sigh, dropping his hands into his lap to replace the book, "You're like a child," he commented, "it's a book, in case you're too blind to notice that. It's called Dark Matter."

"Gee, thanks Jack Frost," Tony paused to point out random objects in the room, naming them all, "Table, chair, drawer. Where's my gold star? Why do you bother reading this stuff, Jarvis and I could easily explain it to you."

"It's fiction, I don't require a great amount of information on the universe; I know plenty about it already. Why would you need a star?"

"Hmm, didn't know fiction was your thing," Tony replied, he sat up on the desk and scanned over the blurb. Taking in the words, it was obviously a horror story about some guy in the Arctic. Probably wasn't gonna have a happy ending. "Interesting . . . a star is a sticker that you give to kids to encourage them and blah de blah. I wouldn't mind a real star though, Starkus Major, anyone?"

Loki rose an eyebrow and gave a shrug, the sarcasm flew past him, "I don't think a real star would do you any good, I could get you one if you wanted me to—wouldn't do me any good, but I am in your debt."

Tony frowned, "Listen here, deer-head, you stay away from the stars! I'll have no deaths of Norse Gods on my hands thank you very much." Tony immediately lowers his voice and mutters under his breath, so Loki wouldn't hear, "Stupid gods overstretching their stupid mojo for stupid Humans."

Loki looked to Tony, a frown on his own face, "I'm not deaf; I heard every word of that. Strange thing to say, since you did shoot me twice," he said.

Tony, amused by that, flashed the biggest shit-eating grin he could muster, "Well, we weren't pals then," he replied, jumping down from the table and placing the book on it, "now, who's for burgers?"

Loki gave a sigh, "I'm not particularly hungry," he replied, getting to his feet. He dusted off his clothes, a hand running over his thin body, stroking dust from his torso, "but I will go with you if you wish me to."

Tony was stunned for a couple of seconds, up this close, he only really began to realize just how tall he was. "U-um, yeah, okay." He then noticed Loki's clothes though, and a frown crossed his face at the Asgardian armoury and black leather, "Oh, you are so not coming with me dressed like that," he stated, folding his arms.

Loki gave Tony a well earned glare, "Is there something about my attire that is distasteful to you?" he questioned, spite on the tip of his tongue—his words acidic. "I'll have you know my dress is quite well-seen in Asgard."

Tony put up his hands defensively, "Tone down the laser beams their Rudolph! There's nothing wrong with your clothes per se, they might just catch the wrong kind of . . . uh . . . attention, downtown. I'm talking angry Humans who hate you for destroying their city and almost killing me; their dashing hero," he struck a superman pose.

Loki hardly understood either of his references, but he passes them off, "The dashing hero that let me throw him out of a window," a toothy grin crossed his face, "fine, I'll get changed."

Tony sat for a moment trying to think of a smarmy reply, but when no words came, he just called after him. "Yeah, you go get changed, I'll . . . call the car I guess." Giving a few vague hand motions, Tony strutted off in the opposite direction from Loki to go and fetch the Audi from the garage.

* * *

After unlocking and starting up the sleek grey car, Tony climbed out and sat on the bonnet while waiting for Loki to stray out from the corridor. A few minutes went by, and Loki appeared to Tony, he wore his black suit trousers, and his fine white shirt complimented by a black tie and a yellowish coloured scarf with hints of green upon it. He carried a long, black coat over his shoulder by the collar.

Tony raised an eyebrow, "Little formal for a drive-thru," he commented.

Loki frowned at Tony, "I don't have many options, I'm afraid, would you prefer it if I changed back into my original dress?" he asked, stopping a few feet away from him.

"No! No, you're fine," Tony responded, giving a slight roll of his eyes when he got to his feet. "Now come on, we have burgers to eat."

Loki climbed into the car after Tony, who had to remind him about the safety features of the car such as a seatbelt. Tony leaned over to help him get buckled in, but Loki just slapped his hand away with the pretence that he was perfectly capable of figuring it out himself—'he wasn't an idiot'. The drive was rather long, and silent, the journey out of the garage was difficult because there was a bunch of people with cameras trying to get a glimpse of their 'dashing hero' and the companion forced upon him. Loki had tried to make a change, but the rest of the Avengers weren't willing to let him upon Earth without a formal introduction to its ways—a long one at that too. Tony had been the only one that was willing to help him, Clint was there to assist Tony, but he wasn't going to look after Loki himself after what the God had done to him the first time they met.

So far, Loki had behaved admirably, he hadn't put a finger out of line and Tony was beginning to realize that maybe he'd made the right decision. Unfortunately, Loki had mentioned at one point that Thor still didn't know he was here—it had been two weeks since Loki had came to Earth, so it was strange to know that Thor hadn't found out he was missing yet.

* * *

Loki spent the drive studying the insides of the car, the slippery black leather and streamlined dashboard. Tony's hands were wrapped around the silvery steering wheel at the correct points but he seemed to be doing a good job of ignoring the speedometer—seventy miles per hour in a thirty zone.

Tony pulled up the car outside of the drive-thru and turned to Loki while he waited for the window to automatically roll down. "What do you want?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Loki pulled a face at Tony, he didn't usually eat Midgardian food and half the stuff on the menu—which he couldn't actually see anyway—was completely foreign to him. "I'll have whatever you're going to have," he replied flatly.

Tony gave a roll of his eyes, "I'm going to have to give you lessons on how to eat on Earth," he replied, turning to the server and leaning through the window to order.

* * *

After they'd eaten Tony took Loki to a few other stores, the first stop was a sweet shop—after Tony had found out that Loki liked the milkshake he'd been ordered over the actual food itself. He made Loki go in alone, a smirk playing on his lips when he handed him the money which of course Loki had no idea how to use.

Loki came back with a couple of bags of sweet things of which half the stuff, Loki assumed was inedible. The bags were placed in Loki's leg space, which caused him to get rather cramped but he would manage. Tony wiped away mock tears at that point and mentioned something about how 'they grow up so fast', which only earned him a rather terrifying death glare from Loki.

The next store was the clothes store, Tony was determined to get Loki out of those Asgardian clothes and into something more manageable, easy to put on, and didn't stand out so much. This time Tony went in with him to make sure he didn't pick anything just as glamorous as his old clothes—by threatening him with the fact that if he didn't, Tony would buy him a pair of golden spandex trousers. Tony guided him around the aisles to the 'tall' section and told him to look around for something that he'd like. He'd pay for anything that Loki chose even if it was incredibly expensive. Loki returned with an armful of clothes than consisted mainly of green and black, well that was good, at least Tony knew what his favourite colours were. He paid for, and bagged the clothes before leading Tony back out to the vehicle, putting the bags, along with the sweets into the boot of the car.

"So . . . what now . . .?" Tony thought out loud, heading back to the front of the car, "I know! Since you're staying—for a while at least, maybe you should make yourself more at home. There's a furniture store not far from here, we could get you some pieces for your room," he announced, clicking his fingers at his brilliant idea.

Loki gave a small sigh, "You're very enthusiastic about this," he commented.

"Well duh, it's fun to see you completely out of place," he replied with a chuckle.

Loki groaned and mumbled something under his breath before getting back into the car.

"I'll take that as a yes!" Tony called with a grin, climbing into the driver's seat with a wide smile on his face.

Loki gave a roll of his eyes as Tony started the car up again, heading off to the furniture store. When they arrived, Tony was almost skipping towards the store in some strange manner of glee which Loki couldn't understand. So Tony led Loki over to the furniture inside of the store, he headed over to the beds first, since Loki was still using the rather basic, single bed in the guest room. Loki happened to pick the most expensive one just by habit; he didn't know which was the most expensive. The one he picked was a king sized bed with black covers—an intricate pattern of snakes climbing up the bottom of the duvet completed it.

"Well, you certainly have no objections to spending my money," Tony said, pursing his lips before he called over a salesman to organise the delivery.

"You asked me to choose," Loki replied when Tony turned back.

"If I asked you to jump off a cliff, would you?"

"Of course not, that is entirely different," Loki retorted with a frown.

"No it isn't," Tony replied, frowning back.

"Then if I asked you to trip, and fall, right now, would you?"

"No, because I don't do everything everyone tells me to do," Tony replied with a smug grin.

"Really?" Loki gave a frustrated sigh and turned on his heel to leave, and as ever, unsuspecting Tony wasn't prepared when Loki turned—kicking his leg out and sweeping low and taking Tony's legs out from underneath him.

Tony landed on the floor with a harsh slap on the laminate, but instead of crying out in pain or anything ordinary, he ended up laughing rather loudly. "You ass!" he responded, still chuckling. Tony got to his feet slowly, watching as Loki walked off, and he seemed to think that Tony wouldn't fight back for some reason. So Tony took his chance and pounced at Loki's back, tackling him to the ground. Loki hadn't expected it so he fell without warning, what was even worse was that Tony started tickling him in the stomach.

"Get off me, you stupid mortal," Loki demanded, squirming as he tried to get Tony off him.

Tony was having none of it, thoroughly enjoying himself, "Not until you crack a smile!" he replied, moving his hands around to find Loki's most ticklish spot. He had his knee placed on Loki's chest to stop him from getting up—although he knew Loki could easily break his leg, but he wouldn't unless he wanted to go back to prison.

Loki found out he was actually ticklish, he had never really known since tickling wasn't an ordinary every day activity for him. As much as he tried not to laugh, he simply couldn't manage it. He tried to slap Tony's hands away.

"Stark! I demand you stop!" Loki growled, though it couldn't be as threatening as he wanted it to be for the sake that he could hardly breathe well enough to say anything.

"Are we growling at each other now? Okay," Tony chuckled and let out a low growl.

They had drawn some attention from passer-bys, and the people who worked in the store were also thoroughly entertained.

The tickling lasted for a few minutes until Loki started feeling dizzy with the lack of air and Tony's was satisfied with his work. Loki seemed to have lightened up a bit; he had a small smirk on his face the whole of the journey home. Obviously he was planning some way of getting his own back on Tony, and knowing Loki and his devious ways it was highly likely that he would.


	2. A (Really) Bad Case of The Munchies

"Yikes . . ." Tony frowned as he examined the collection of people hovering around outside his front door.

He'd pulled into his drive, planning on parking the car outside and just heading back into the building quickly. However, a large amount of reporters, journalists and other types of interested parties had congealed on his doorstep. He realized he'd have to go back through the garage, which wasn't a problem but it would still be boring and a waste of time. He parked the car up in its allocated space in the garage.

"Damn paps," Tony growled as he stopped the car.

Loki glanced over at Tony slowly, confusion on his face. "Paps?"

Tony gave a chuckle at Loki's confusion, in fact Tony was surprised he hadn't explained what paps were yet. He left Loki in his state of curiosity a while longer in order to climb out of the car.

"Paps, or paparazzi as they're usually called, are the people who provide news for the world. They're like a bunch of stalkers," Tony explained as he locked the car behind them.

"I can get rid of them for you, if you wish?" Loki asked, a small smirk creeping onto his face. The smirk was hidden behind Tony's back though.

"Really? How?" Tony was interested; he did want to have some peace and quiet for once.

"A few choice words," Loki replied as he followed Tony into the living room where Clint was lying asleep on the couch.

"Somehow I don't think speaking to them is going to work," Tony replied with a chuckle.

Loki didn't bother to reply. He disappeared into a back room and was in there for a few minutes. Tony could hear a lot of shuffling and banging, and at one point sounded a muffled 'owch', so he could safely assume that Loki was looking through a cupboard and had banged his head on it. Loki came back into the white and glassy living room, but in his hands he carried a couple of silvery, ornate throwing knives.

"A few choice words and a few threats," Loki added with a smirk on his lips.

"Jesus! Loki, where the hell were you hiding those!?" Tony rushed over to Loki, wrapping his hands around the blades of the sharp knives.

Loki let Tony pull them away from him, and then examine them afterwards.

"You can't just go around threatening people anymore, _especially _not the paps, you'll get arrested and thrown into prison within a few seconds. Never mind the fact that you'll completely screw up my reputation," Tony said sternly, a frown on his face as he tried to speak some sense into Loki.

Loki gave a sigh, "You did ask me to get rid of them."

"No, I asked you _how_ you would get rid of them, and this is not an acceptable substitute for a restraining order," Tony said, rolling his eyes as he went to sit down in the armchair.

Now in silence, Tony studied the knives he held in his hands. He turned them over in his fingers, interested in the strange metal and just how they had been crafted. The knives were simple, a few holes to put your fingers in, but each side had a thin and very, very sharp blade to complete it. Tony could assume that they also contained magical properties. They were dangerous weapons, and Loki shouldn't have had them stored in the house anywhere. With these, he could have killed them all unsuspectingly in their sleep, which begged the question of 'why didn't he?' Surely Loki would take any chance he had to take over the world again, even if he was apparently trying to change.

"Did you make these?" Tony asked, glancing up at Loki who was currently distracted by a snoring birdy on the couch.

Loki turned back to Tony, "No, it's Dwarven metal," he replied, "the same Dwarves that forged Mjolnir."

"Oh . . . fancy," Tony looked back to the knives, "that will explain why I've never seen this metal before."

Loki gave a small nod in reply.

Tony realized something then, "Oh, I forgot the shopping, hang on." He climbed to his feet suddenly, placing the knives on the table since he—rather stupidly—trusted Loki not to touch them. He headed off down to the garage, leaving Loki and Clint alone in the living room together. Tony collected the bags from the boot of the car and a plan crossed his mind to spare the time. A wide smile appeared on his face as he headed back up to the living room with the bags on his arms.

"Hey, Icecube, why don't we have a competition?" Tony called as he came through into the living room again. (Thankfully Loki hadn't stabbed Clint in the face.)

"You're challenging me to a duel?" Loki asked, looking to him and raising an eyebrow.

"Not a duel, a competition," Tony corrected with a chuckle and pulled a packet of M&Ms from the plastic bags he'd dumped on the table.

"What kind of competition?" Loki questioned, walking over to him and sitting down on the floor across the table from Tony.

A large grin spread across Tony's face as he pulled out another bag of M&M's. He opened both, pouring one bag of sweets on the table in front of Loki, and the other one in front of him.

"An eating competition." Tony chuckled. "If I eat all of my M&Ms before you do, you give me your knives so I can do 'experiments' on them," the word experiments was complimented by a twitching of his fingers, "and if you win, I'll make the next meal, deal?"

"You seem to be getting more out of this than I am, since you're a terrible chef. Also, your idea of competition makes you sound like Volstagg," Loki retorted.

"Shut up," Tony protested, "at least you can do whatever you want when I'm cooking—EXCEPT KILLING PEOPLE, no murdering, maiming or injuring in my house, thank you."

Loki gave a sigh, but his lips twitched up into a small smirk, "Alright," he replied.

Tony discarded the bags to the side and looked at Loki determinedly, "I'll count us in, on three."

Loki gave a chuckle in response but waited for Tony to start.

"One . . . two . . ." without a three, Tony started eating his M&Ms, practically throwing them down his throat.

Loki watched on without movement, waiting for Tony to think he was winning before carefully reaching out and taking a single M&M from Tony's pile.

"**Hey!** That's **cheating**!" Tony cried loudly as Loki stood up from the table and ran off down the corridor.

"But it does mean you've lost!" Loki called back with a loud burst of laughter.

Tony got up to chase Loki, disregarding the table and jumping over it—knocking it over and spilling the M&Ms across the floor. That woke Clint, and he sat up quickly to see Tony running off down the corridor. He scratched the back of his neck in confusion, but eventually passed it off as an argument and went back to sleep again. You couldn't blame him for being tired; he'd been training all night.

Tony chased Loki down the corridor before cornering him at the end of it, to be honest Loki should have locked himself in the bathroom when he had the chance.

"Give it back!" Tony yelled, but he couldn't stop himself laughing a little at Loki's initiative.

Loki held the M&M up as high as it would go, with his tall arm and body, Tony would have to climb up him to reach it. "Work for it." he replied with an almost evil laugh.

Tony gave a moan and reached up to see if he could reclaim the M&M, with a few hops, he eventually decided it wasn't going to get any closer. He dropped his hand and looked at Loki, pouting.

Loki rose an eyebrow, "Given up, Anthony?" he questioned with a chuckle, he still did not lower his arm though.

"No, I'm just being patient," Tony replied, but didn't give Loki a chance to reply. He knew what would work. He knew Loki's weakness now.

Tony reached out and started tickling Loki again, which caused him to double over laughing. He brought his hands down to protect his stomach, which meant Tony could successfully pry the M&M free from Loki's hand. He popped the M&M in his mouth and ate it before Loki could try and do anything smart with his magic.

"Damn it," Loki was trying to regain his breath on the floor, while Tony stood triumphant.

"Does this mean I win?" Tony asked with a grin, looking back at the M&Ms all over the floor.

"No, you haven't eaten all of them," Loki protested, climbing to his feet.

"Nor have you, but I count this as a win," Tony replied with a gesture to his own stomach.

"I consider it a draw," Loki commented with a chuckle as he walked past Tony in order to return to the living room.

"Fine . . ." Tony grumbled, following him.

Tony gave a yawn, he was tired and not 100% sure why, but he decided he was going to get some rest. "Yo, I'm going to build a nest, you can join me if you like," he said to Loki before heading off down the corridor.

Loki followed, questioning Tony about the reasons he had to 'build a nest', and if he was some kind of Human-bird hybrid that needed to hibernate as a joke. Tony built himself a nest of pillows and blankets, it was large and there was enough space for three, maybe four people.

Tony was about to climb in when he thought of another great idea, he looked to Loki, "I'm going to cook you something, you'll love it—and it's one of the things I can _actually_ cook."

Loki raised an eyebrow at Tony, especially when he demanded that Loki wait for him in the nest. Loki complied since he didn't see a reason why not to, and he sat waiting in the darkened fortified area. It got rather warm after a while, but he seemed not to notice it much.

Tony returned after about fifteen minutes, carrying a plate in each hand. You could even smell the sugar radiating from it. It was like somebody had just thrown warm caramel into a dish and served it like that.

"Knock knock, open up," Tony called with a grin. He couldn't get into the nest without at least one free hand.

Loki made enough space for Tony to get through, "What is this?" he asked as he took one of the plates from Tony.

"It's a crepe, and you are_ not_ to touch them, _ever_, unless I cook it for you," Tony replied sternly, "you're not ruining any of them."

Loki gave a nod, he wasn't planning on it, "Fine."

"Now taste it," Tony replied, handing Loki a fork with a large grin on his face. But he could hardly see his own hand in front of his eyes.

"Hmm, it's a little dark in here . . ." Tony commented with a frown.

"I can do something about that," Loki replied, and he held out his hand. Immediately his fingers began to glow a faint green—lighting the place enough that they could see each other.

Tony was fascinated by the light, so much that he put his plate to one side and forcefully grabbed Loki's hand. He pulled it closer to him in order to examine it, without even asking. Loki gave a small grunt at this mistreatment, but didn't protest. He let Tony examine his hand.

"How does it work?" Tony questioned, intrigued.

"It's magic, my friend," Loki replied, a little agitated that Tony hadn't guessed that.

Tony gave a roll of his eyes, "I know that, I just want specifics," he replied and shrugged lightly, before letting him go. "Now, eat."

Loki took his hand back and looked down at the food on the plate. It was a thin strip of bread-like material, rolled into a cylinder and filled with ice cream. On top, it was seasoned with chocolate and toffee sauce, and sprinkled with sugar. With Tony watching on eagerly, Loki stabbed his fork through the sweet mixture of flavours, and lifted a section of it up to his mouth. He tasted it, testing it by rolling it around in his mouth a little, before deciding that he indeed found it to have a wondrous flavour.

"So?" Tony sat impatiently awaiting his verdict.

Loki looked up at Tony, "I like it," he replied, giving Tony a small smile.

Tony gave a victorious grin and started eating his own, it only took him about five minutes to finish it. So it wasn't surprising that he felt sick afterwards. Tony gave out a long groan and held his stomach.

"You shouldn't have eaten it so quickly," Loki stated, he was only three eighths the way through his.

"No joke," Tony said, pushing his plate away and curling up into a little ball, giving another groan at the pain in his stomach.

Loki followed Tony's movements with his eyes. "I could help you alleviate that pain if you wished?"

Tony mumbled something below his breath that Loki couldn't make out, "I'll take that as a yes," Loki stated, putting the food aside and crawling over to Tony.

Tony's ball had tightened, and he had his arms wrapped around his waist—holding onto it.

"You will have to let go if you wish me to assist you . . ." Loki stated quietly, sitting down beside Tony.

Tony eventually relaxed and pulled his arms away, the pain was excruciating, and he'd never felt anything like it before. If this was the food that caused it, there must have been something incredibly wrong with that crepe. Tony was able to feel Loki's icy touch through his top when his fingers pressed down upon Tony's stomach. Supported by a soft, green glow, Loki's healing magic did its work. Or well, that's what Tony had hoped for; unfortunately it didn't work like that.

"Anthony, are you sure it's you're stomach hurting?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Help me out of the nest," Tony said harshly.

"I'm sorry?"

"Help me up," he said again, the pain was more than powerful, and it had moved from his stomach around to his side.

Loki assisted him, an arm around Tony's back in order to hoist him up and out of the nest. After Tony had asked to be walked, Loki guided him to the bathroom where Tony shrunk out of Loki's grasp and slammed the door in his face. Whatever it was hadn't just caused pain, but also rather acute sickness and he was having difficulty holding in his pancake.

He came out soon later with a call to Jarvis for a full body scan.

"_I'm afraid you have appendicitis, sir. It is life threatening. Shall I call for an ambulance?" _The AI asked.

Tony replied with a simple yes and looked to Loki, "Go and get a bag, put some clothes in it . . ." he said quietly. He knew that since Loki was trying to make a good impression, he would do as Tony asked. So in the meantime, Tony hobbled back to the nest, where he fell face first onto the pillows—completely drained of energy. He was overheating, sweat pricking up on his brow. He was grateful for the cold against his cheek when Loki returned. Loki had seen that Tony was warm by his slightly laboured breathing and had decided to assist him somewhat. Tony didn't know this though, at the point, he didn't really care.

"_The ambulance has arrived, sir,_" a quiet voice called, Tony couldn't even seem to decipher it as being Jarvis.

Loki, seeing Tony's absence of mind, picked him up again. Over one shoulder was a bag containing the clothes for Tony, and his other arm was wrapped around Tony's back. Loki helped him stumble towards the lift—which Jarvis activated since Loki had no idea how to use it. Loki managed to get them to the door; the journalists had been cleared for the sake of privacy. Loki couldn't figure out how they managed to get that to work, but he was grateful for the absence of people. With the assistance of the paramedics, Tony was soon thrust into the back of the ambulance and they were on their way.


	3. Accidents Will Happen

"Please tell me it's normal for me to be seeing unicorns?" Tony asked from the back of the ambulance, staring at the corner of the van.

"If unicorns are real, it's normal," Loki replied with a small chuckle.

Loki sat in a chair attached to the wall of the ambulance, opposite Tony's bed. It seemed full scale delirium had set in, and Loki planned on remembering that just in case he needed to blackmail Tony at some point. The ambulance arrived at the hospital in less than fifteen minutes, but over that time Tony's pain had become progressively worse. If Tony happened to drop dead, Loki knew he would be thrown back into an Asgardian prison in seconds without a chance to explain himself. Then the Gods would discover his prison break and give him a much worse punishment than he already had received. The punishment would also be one that he deserved.

Loki followed as Tony was wheeled into the hospital on a bed; Loki had on hand rested on the side of it. He made it some way before the surgeon told him that Tony was going to be prepped for surgery to have the appendix removed before it killed him. Loki had agreed to sit in the waiting room until Tony could be seen. The public in the waiting room seemed not to pay much attention to Loki, maybe they recognised him, but he'd changed enough to make them seem hesitant about walking up to him. After all, his hair was slightly longer now, and not slicked back as it used to be; now it curled around his shoulders. He didn't wear his Asgardian clothes, since Tony had made him change earlier in the morning he just looked like an ordinary man who'd come home from a job interview.

Tony was in surgery for about an hour or so, but the doctor didn't notify Loki until about three hours later when he was just starting to wake up. Loki hadn't really realized the time passing. He'd drowned out his surroundings with thoughts and might as well have been asleep for all the attention people could claim. The doctor showed him to the room Tony was being kept in, and gestured towards the bed before Loki. Tony was only just starting to open his eyes when Loki came over.

The smell of disinfectant reached Tony's nose, it was strong enough that it almost made him feel sick again. That was interrupted by a waft of something else; it smelled like the ocean and there was a vague aroma of lilacs. Tony immediately realized that the scent belonged to Loki as he'd been around him long enough to get used to his smell. Tony opened his eyes eventually to meet the plain white ceiling. He could feel the presence of a tall person stood to his left and Tony knew it would be Loki.

"I'm really hungry now," Tony commented, causing him to feel a sharp pain in his side.

"I wonder why," Loki responded while Tony sat up to investigate the pain.

Tony lifted his blanket off of him to reveal the painful, red, inflamed skin complete with some sharp black stitches. He went as far as to touch it lightly, but it stung and he immediately drew his hand back.

"Oh god . . . what happened?" Tony asked, looking at the wound.

"You had to get your appendix removed," Loki answered him as he took the seat next to Tony's bed.

"Oh, great, this'll be all over the news," Tony said, his voice was a little cracked as his throat was dry.

Loki passed Tony the cup of water on his bedside just as a nurse came in to supply his antibiotics. The medicine made Tony tired, and as much as he wanted to stay awake, he just couldn't. He ended up falling asleep within the half hour and remained like that for a few more.

The room had darkened the next time Tony woke up, outside it was almost silent and the only noises you could hear was the occasional cough or sneeze from somebody next door. Tony was fidgeting in his sleep, traumatized by all-too familiar nightmares. His breathing was quick paced and panicked. Thankfully he wasn't attached to a heart monitor otherwise people might be investigating his increased heart rate.

Loki was awoken from his uncomfortable sleep by Tony's movements. He'd dropped off in the chair that was a little too small for him. Seeing Tony struggling next to him, Loki placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. A few seconds later Tony's hand landed on top of Loki's; gripping it tightly as he sat up.

"We have to get out of here; they're going to kill us!" Tony said loudly and suddenly, unaware of his real surroundings.

"Tony, calm down . . ." Loki said quietly, "No-one's going to kill us."

Tony took a few breaths, looking around at his surroundings. He eventually relaxed when he realized he wasn't about to be murdered. However he failed to realize his grip on Loki's hand until Loki tried to move away. Tony automatically gripped the cold hand tighter until he understood who it belonged to, but even still, he didn't let go until Tony was certain he was awake.

"I . . . sorry," Tony said, letting Loki's hand go.

Loki gave a sigh and returned his hand to the armrest. "Bad dream?" Loki questioned.

"Yeah . . ." Tony replied with a sigh.

There was a silence that lasted for a few minutes, the only noise was Tony's deep breathing. The silence was soon broken though when Tony realized where Loki was sitting.

"Have you been sleeping there?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow at Loki's rather uncomfortable looking chair.

"Yes, I have," Loki replied.

"It looks really uncomfortable," Tony mentioned, and then shuffled over on his bed to make space before tapping the bed clothes. "Hop up."

Loki tilted his head slightly at Tony, but he climbed up onto the bed anyway. He settled himself down next to Tony. The bed was too thin for room, so their shoulders were pressed together. There was another silence while Tony waited for some kind of conversation to come to mind.

"So . . . uh . . . what's Asgard like?" Tony asked, looking over at Loki.

"What do you want to know about it?" Loki questioned, turning his head to glance at Tony. Their faces were only inches apart.

"Anything." Tony replied, "Tell me . . . tell me about the dwarves?"

Loki paused for a moment, figuring out what to say. "The dwarves are skilled craftsmen; you've seen my knives, they are an example of their work. But they are feisty and don't like being denied. The first battle my father forced me into was against the dwarves and that scarred me for life." He explained.

"What did they do that scarred you?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It wasn't a metaphor, Anthony."

"You have an actual battle scar?" Tony looked surprised, but at the same time he sounded amazed. A nod from Loki demanded his request, "Can I see?"

Loki gave a small sigh, "As you wish."  
Loki sat up, raising from his position and pulling his face away from Tony's. He wrapped his fingers around the hem of his left trouser leg and pulled it up as far as it would go. The roll of material stuck at his knee but that was good enough. A long, raised scar stretched from the top of his shin down to his ankle. There were three of the lengthy marks, as the weapon that had punctured him had been complimented with three blades.

"Holy shit," Tony said in surprise as he examined Loki's scars, "how are you still walking!?"

Tony ran his fingers gently over Loki's scars, it tickled but Loki hardly registered it.

"How old were you?" Tony asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"When you got this scar? How old were you when you went into that battle?" Tony asked, leaning back and looking up at Loki. He ignored the dull throb in his side.

"I was seventeen . . ." Loki replied quietly, pushing his trouser leg back down.

"Seventeen!? Your father made you go into a battle when you were seventeen?" Tony was horrified.

"I was required on the field, they were losing," Loki replied as if it was a natural thing.

"Your father sent you into a losing battle as a child? What kind of father would do that?"

"Mine."

Tony gave a small sigh and joined Loki when he lay down again. For some reason he'd immediately decided that he disliked dwarves. Tony felt like a subject change was necessary.

"Do you ever want to go back to Asgard?" Tony asked him.

"I would like to, but I don't think I will be accepted," Loki replied with a frown.

Tony just nodded at that, he didn't need to ask why that was.

"Are you tired?" Tony eventually asked.

Loki gave a small nod, "I was asleep," he reminded Tony.

"Alright, you sleep then. I'll . . . tinker," Tony replied, giving a shrug. He shut up after that to let Loki sleep.

* * *

While Loki slept, Tony busied himself with his mobile. He was pulling it to pieces and investigating each nook of it. He put it back together when he was finished but the activity had only wasted him an hour. Tony decided that maybe he should get some sleep, so that was what he did. He settled down into the bed a little bit more, but with Loki laid on top of the blankets, it was difficult to get comfortable. Eventually though, Tony started to drop off. Loki seemed to sleep like a log, stiff and still, but at the same time he also seemed not to sleep at all well. Maybe he was racked by nightmares just as Tony was, but it was impossible for Tony to see inside that strange head of his. Tony watched Loki's steady breathing for a while, before letting himself fall asleep to its repetitiveness.

* * *

Tony woke later to Loki rocking the bed as he climbed off of it. Confused, he opened his eyes to look over at Loki, when Tony noticed the nurse that had come into the room to administer his pain killers.

"How long do I have to stay here?" Tony questioned the nurse as soon as she was in hearing range. The thought had been nagging him for some time now.

"You can leave later after the doctor has seen you," the nurse replied before she left the room.

Loki gave a small yawn, he looked absolutely drained and he was still tired.

"Jesus, dude, you look knackered, go get a coffee or something," Tony suggested to Loki, giving a slight chuckle at the state of his hair.

"I'll do that, if you're alright on your own," Loki replied, raising an eyebrow at Tony.

"I'll be fine, Ice cube, I'm sure I'll be ready to go by the time you get back," Tony answered and gave Loki a nod.

Loki stood and left the room without another word, he only had a vague sense that he knew where he was going. He found a small café in the corner of the waiting room and walked over to it. He ordered and paid for the coffee with the rest of the money Tony had given him before heading back into Tony's room. The sharp smell of the coffee reached Tony's nose as he came in.

"I didn't think you'd like coffee, what with your sweet tooth . . ." Tony stated, looking over at Loki. He was now sat up straight in his bed.

"I haven't tried it yet," Loki replied as he sat down in his seat again.

"Try it then," Tony leaned over to Loki expectantly.

Loki sipped at the coffee and frowned at its heat, burning his tongue and the back of his throat. He grimaced. "It's too warm to taste," he stated.

Tony chuckled at the child-like naivety of Loki, "Did you just burn your tongue?"

"Yes . . ." Loki replied with a sigh.

"Blow on it, it will cool it down. Now, where the hell is that doctor?" Tony clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth before sitting back again.

The doctor came through the door moments later and told Tony that he was free to go whenever he was ready, but he had to come back in around two weeks to get his stitches removed. When he left, Loki was already sipping at his coffee. He gave Tony a glance.

"Ready to leave?" he questioned.

Tony looked at him questioningly, he gestured to his hospital get-up, "Do I look ready to leave?"

Loki picked up his bag from the floor and placed it on the side of Tony's bed, next to him. "You will be."

"Thanks . . ." Tony climbed off the bed with the bag in his hand. He stumbled towards the en-suite bathroom to change.

There were a few noises off his struggling, shuffling, crashing, and the occasional curse or two. Tony soon came out of the bathroom dressed in a black shirt—not tucked into his trousers very well—and a pair of blue jeans. His hair was a mess, tufts sticking out here and there. Loki, having discarded the coffee that he'd finished in the bin, stood up and walked over to Tony. He raked his hands through Tony's hair, sorting out the mess it was in. Tony almost melted as a result; he loved to have his hair messed with.

"You're a state, Anthony," Loki said, "one for sore eyes." He added while he tucked in Tony's shirt so that he was more presentable.

"Thanks," Tony replied, and frowned, "I don't have any shoes," he stated as he looked down at his feet.

"Why not?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't have any on when we left the house . . ." Tony replied, he only wore socks on his feet. "It doesn't matter, I'll just tip-toe to the cab," he decided.

"There could be glass all over the street, you might injure yourself more," Loki said, glancing down at Tony's socks.

"Oh well, at least I'm near a hospital. There's not much else we can do," Tony gave a small sigh.

"I could carry you, if you wish," Loki suggested, looking back up at Tony's suddenly shocked expression.

"Carry me?"

"Yes . . ." Loki replied, and he left the room.

Tony followed as quick as he could manage, but the journey to the front door of the hospital took five minutes longer than it would have if Tony had agreed to use the wheelchair. When they got to the door, Loki turned to Tony.

"How would you like me to carry you?" he asked.

Tony looked at Loki incredulously, he hadn't thought that Loki was being serious, but it turned out he was. Since Loki was hell bent on this, he thought 'why not go full out on this'.

"I want you to swing me up dramatically in your arms while I swoon," Tony said with a chuckle.

He didn't expect Loki to actually do it.

Tony felt his legs come away from underneath him, and he thought he was going to fall before Loki's arm caught his shoulders. He lifted Tony into his arms. Some of the nurses were trying to hold back their giggles.

In return for that, Tony wrapped an arm around Loki's neck. "Away, noble steed!" he called, pointing in the direction of the taxi.

That was the last straw for the nurses and they burst out laughing, though Loki paid no heed to it and headed off towards the taxi. Loki had no problem carrying Tony; to him Tony weighed the same as a heavy box would to a Human. Loki put Tony back on his feet when they came to the taxi, Tony had to climb down carefully to avoid injuring himself. Tony's fingers brushed against Loki's cheek as a result, but neither of them seemed to care. He carefully climbed into the back of the cab and Loki followed slowly. The driver needed to be informed of their destination, but before Tony did so, he turned to Loki.

"Do you want to go back to StarkTower? Or we could go to my house at Malibu?" Tony asked him, "Though if we go to Malibu we'd probably need to catch a plane."

"I think StarkTower is the best destination, we don't want you to receive any more injuries," Loki stated as he pulled his seatbelt on.

Tony gave a nod, "Yeah, that's true," he replied, then informed the driver. Soon they were on their way back to StarkTower.


End file.
